#causality
From Rascals to Rebels
Refuges to Renegades
Retribution Resurfaced
Reused with Retrospect
Resuscitate Recalibrate
Marinate in a slurrin’ state.
From the mind of Asher Graves-
A vessel with weak vertebrae
Puzzled with a smirky face
Whimsical but consolidates
Cyclical yet desperate
An unfazed gaze that penetrates
On the parchment of the firmament
A testament, a sentiment
An abandonment from the netizen-
Of shallow sands and toxic friends
So amused, yet can barely stand
Folly then, or play pretend?
Musician or naicisuM
The Opposites do append.
Maxim of a valid case
A frightened prey, a cold case
Runs away when it’s chased
Like fog when it thinks oceanside
Like humans gaslighting real life
Miasmic Riptides
A butterfly flew past the hillsides
A rock fell followed by a landslide
On the flipside a lake dried
All because of a butterfly flutter by
An anomaly? A coincidence in disguise?
That’s just causality in plain sight!
Butterfly effect- Bullseye!
Euphoric journeys, endless mires
Rhetoric questions, futile desires
Bountiful convictions, ignored squires
Outliers, admire, still fire, white liars
Jumbled up in juxtaposition jinxing sires,
Pilfer personas prevent pilgrimage pyres,
Obsolete obscurities open in isles,
Stalemate—soul-marked, retired.
-Asher Graves
Oct 28, 2025
Oct 28, 2025 at 3:11 AM UTC
The reality is that
our causality
determines our existence.
'Our', is meant literally
in that we also partially
determine our causality
together.
This is co-constitutive in nature.
However, this power to create
our own destiny is always within
the limits of our own contexts:
our past choices,
our environment,
our language;
the people around us,
the history within which
our identity emerges
and the current modes open to us
to be different
(or the same).
So, we are here.
And we will be there.
And we have
somewhat of a choice.
Jul 1, 2025
Jul 1, 2025 at 2:04 PM UTC
I told her reality is a lie
reality is a lie
there are cowboys and aliens
making music in the sky
robots and dinosaurs
dancing in the jungle
monsters and angels
playing checkers in the chimney
Don't bother them and their whimsy, she said
I'm what's real
like the illusory cold of steel
or the bellyful of a meal
I cook and I clean for you
I laugh and I sing for you
I hold and I cry for you
I feel no shame that I'd die for you
but you're far off in the aether
tempting ruin from fool's gold gods
and I ponder how long I should wait for you
to come down from the heights you have scaled
The heights scaled me, my darling, I uttered
they came creeping in the night
alighting me to the depths of hell
where the ****** weep with fright
they call out for mercy, I swear
and I do not lift a finger
for I am a mortal
only armed with prayer
It's best you leave me be
I will plan their great escape
for if anyone deserves no freedom
it is I
'tis I...
But she never left, did she
she clamored on for hope
that I'd be the man I was
that I'd not be tempted by the rope
I watched her smile grow dull
her eyes' glow became glassy
her encouragements lost pep
her savor for life lost flavor
and the gods grew quiet...
the fairies fluttered away
the aliens and monsters disappeared
guilt began to choke my spirit
Darling, I said, sweet thing
your smile wanes softer than the moon
what can I get for you,
a lilt? a tune?
She sighed and shook her head
"Your dreams await, my love."
I was shocked to hear the utterance
the defeat that marred her voice
I hugged her deeply, as if to stop her falling
lo, her spirit had ebbed into despair
frightfully, I told her, "I shant dream again."
But you always dream, she said, it wouldn't hurt to dream once more
Oh but it does hurt, I whispered, it hurts that you hurt for me
The ****** still call, do they not?
Your one voice drowns them out
What of the aliens and their schemes?
I will make plans for you, say the word
What of the cowboys and their adventures?
You are my adventure, my freedom, my home
I don't know, you'll be dreaming tomorrow, I must prepare the bed
I'll prepare it with you - you and I will make love tonight
After so long, will you have the stones?
I will be the mountain you're astride
stones enough for cobbled streets
stones enough for churches and keeps
I tell you darling, I am through
no dreaming, no sleeping, no games
I will lay you down tonight
until you say my name!
And the morrows were ever sweeter
the days skipped by with grace
no longer brooding over the dead
it was life that I laid claim to
my love, she held me tight like never before
cooing like a nested bird at the highest tree
she turns to me, says, "I have something to show you."
She leads me to the door and opens
but it was then that the doorway warped
a darkness suffused the entry
a darkness deeper than the cosmos beyond the sky
and in a that darkness, a gleam...
I reached out to touch, with my love grasping my hand
the gleam became a roaring light
and from it, the king of darkness himself
You were to be a hero, he claimed, a champion for them all
but here you stand at the threshold
here, you fight you last battle
I heard your cries to the hells
your pining for their salvation
I heard them cry for you
I heard them sing for freedom
it tickled me, their futility
until I realized, it had never been done before
for someone to light hell to a chorus
for them to weep no longer,
for them to hope
I've come to you with an offer
we shall see what you are made of
what can you offer for their freedom
what thing of value can replace my coveted ******
I gulped, not sure what to say
was I dreaming again? Surely not!
But my darling was seeing this, too
this was not a dream at all!
All I ever had to offer, was myself, I said
And will you make that offer?
My grip on her hand loosened against my will
against my better judgment, I yearned to shake his hand
to make the deal
to save their souls
but I knew, or at least I was learning
things could never be that simple...
After me, I said, shall there be more souls to claim?
Always as the sun rises and sets
there is reaping, bills to collect
the debt of sin is final, and punishment is due
punishment for them
punishment for you
Can I have your assurance
that you will not take more souls after me?
I require your agreement
your acceptance of my plea
The king of darkness smiled a vast, soulless grin
Unless you make their decisions for them, you cannot change their fates
But you would give them a chance
a glimmer of opportunity to right their courses
Something else was nagging at me
Why, after all this time, was he here?
To make a simple offer?
My soul for the ******
The offer made no sense
if I truly were ****** my soul would be worth less than any of theirs
I began to catch on to the ploy
I began to live the game
I don't believe my soul is worth the souls of hell...
Ah, a change of heart
No, I just don't believe the scale is balanced - my soul has the scale tipped
You jest
Don't tell me you can't afford my soul...
Wha- well how much then? I'd have to wait for new batches
I don't think you're up for bargaining
I can offer you a hundred years more worth of souls
You wouldn't come here for a soul worth so little - that's a sad offer
A thousand years more worth, it's a bargain!
I don't come so cheap, that's pathetic...
How much then, how much!
All the souls... of all time
Do you mean hell to be some kind of revolving door? No. Absolutely not. Actions have consequences, and the ultimate consequence is hell - that's fair.
Fair? Fair for billions of people to live lives of suffering, emptiness, and defeat, and sure, fail at it, cause catastrophe maybe, but ultimately all for the chance to live, only for all that striving, and all the weight of that suffering, to land them in a pit for eternity, experiencing a suffering unlike anything they'd ever imagined?
Fair? You have no idea what's fair and your bogus offers are indicative of that.
I felt her grip my hand tight. I held just as firm.
The king looked shocked, so... that's a no then.
Did you hear anything I said?
I heard, and if you have some means to change how the universe works, I suggest you start working, because I have work of my own to do.
That's it then?
Indeed.
With that, the king of darkness melted into the black, disappearing from sight, along with the dark portal. Suddenly, light burst from the now open doorway, revealing the green pastures beyond.
You saw all that?
She nodded. You dreams weren't for nothing, then?
I guess not. I breathed a sigh of relief. You had something to show me?
I absolutely forgot with everything that just happened. Are... are we dreaming?
I looked around, smiling. Everything is real, I said.
She smiled back, and let me out into the world where I had not ventured in years.
The first steps were trouble. My joints ached. The sky was too bright. But as we strode, it got easier. I began to enjoy it. She led me far, until I almost didn't recognize where we were. Up a steep hill with trees and shrubbery covering its expanse.
At the top, a small clearing, within which a tall tree stood. We rounded it, and she pointed at something, "Remember?"
I nodded, I can't believe we haven't been here since we were kids.
You're the one that brought me here the first time.
I forgot this place existed
This used to be your favorite spot
Things changed. We changed.
Change doesn't have to end life. It could be the beginning.
I hugged her. It could, I said.
What she'd pointed at was a carving of our faces I'd made in the trunk of the tree when I first began dreaming of the future. She was my dream. My first dream. Sad to see how I'd taken her for granted.
I want to help you, she said. I want to dream with you.
The dreams won't change anything anymore, I said, we have our answer. I want to start changing the world... will you help me with that?
She nodded.
I dreamed, I said, because I was suffering. I dreamed because I wanted an answer. Instead, the dreaming brought me into the darkness, and I couldn't escape. But with your help, I did.
Now, we take everyone else out of the darkness. We help them build a world where dreams are filled with love, not death.
I like that, she said.
We kissed. We climbed the tree to a good, thick branch and sat watching the sun sink into the horizon.
I thanked the heavens for my life, and, as I watched the sunset, sang to myself, at first in my head, then with my voice, and she joined in,
"Reality is alive,
reality is alive."
Aug 3, 2022
Aug 3, 2022 at 1:26 AM UTC
A heart
that just wants
to be what it is..
without edit needed,
to avoid punishment
or worse yet,
counterfeit imitation
So why not we
stoke up
the gaslight flame
and color it all, empty
or count it all
to that of self gain
nullifying the good
down to that of
everyday, commonplace
or that of an every day
self-centeredness..
making
every single bit of this,
un-fixable
Jan 11, 2021
Jan 11, 2021 at 10:09 AM UTC
amorphous
the vitality that exists
under blossoms
May 25, 2020
May 25, 2020 at 1:52 PM UTC
Human greatest fear, is the unknown.
To not know, or unknown, is to not grasp.
Humans fear what they cannot control.
Death, is human greatest fear.
Under heaven, no mortal can resist death.
A king would be overthrown;
An emperor would rot;
The world extinguish;
The stars dim;
Such is death!
Death, tiny yet holds an endless profound mystery.
It cannot be held, cannot be touched, cannot be seen.
The dead cannot speak;
The living cannot see.
How could the living see the dead that cannot speak?
Death is the mother of life.
Close, yet so distant;
For deaths give birth to life;
Life, then give birth to death.
Death is the cause, life is effect.
Life is cause, death is effect;
Causality, difficult to grasp.
Mortal, who bears the spirit of the living;
cannot grasp deaths.
Mortal, who bears the spirit of the dead;
cannot grasp life.
Heaven lent you a soul, Earth will lend a grave;
All debt is paid without seeking to repay.
The samsara of life and death,
Who can escape?
The soul, are to return to heaven;
The body, are to return to earth;
Who can resist?
The evil is dreaded by men but not heaven;
Evil and right, no different in its eyes.
May 6, 2020
May 6, 2020 at 4:49 PM UTC
The mind at play is a rocking boat:
It goes along the flow of our thoughts
Between destination and arrival ports.
And on the boat we learn of causality.
The mind at rest is a quiet pond:
Its surface mirrors the world
As the edges are all withdrawn.
And in the lake we learn of unity.
The mind in a rush is a storm:
Waves collides in a frenetic waltz
Where one sees hills in eruption.
And in the storm we learn of identity.
...if we could get the vessel across;
...if we could face our own shape;
...if we could settle on the hilltops;
What more would be left for us to behold?
Jul 14, 2019
Jul 14, 2019 at 11:48 AM UTC
surrender and defeat,
my fated causality,
by mine own hand done in,
'twas the death I ordained,
when to the addiction of ego,
I did, did I,
concede and become another casualty
by mine own mind
Aug 19, 2018
Aug 19, 2018 at 5:41 PM UTC
A handful of dust, immortality
A portrait to age, immorality
A hungry lust doth consume, apathy
A conscience driven mad, insanity
Narcissistic soul buried, casualty
The capturing of youth, causality
Jun 15, 2018
Jun 15, 2018 at 9:01 AM UTC
I’m a logician
A tic-tac-tician
Accountable to
Me
Bringing it day andor
Night
It’s time to get
Into My groove
Cause ... caustic ... causality
Tom waits for no one.
Jan 10, 2018
Jan 10, 2018 at 7:42 PM UTC
there is no true end to anything
for every moment
is the beginning
of something new
after the egg,
a chicken
after the chicken,
chicken soup
and after the soup comes something new.
just a small thought
in a big world
May 28, 2015
May 28, 2015 at 5:59 PM UTC
Intentions, aren’t they always good?
You tried to do the best you could.
Though finally it came to naught,
you never gave up, never stopped
saying it’s for the greater good.
Intentions, aren’t they always good?
Seldom taking the path they should.
Noble, with a worthy cause wrought,
intentions rust.
Intentions, quite misunderstood –
even the best ones never could
right any of the wrongs they bought.
The well-meaning battles you fought
hardly could have done any good.
Intentions rust.
Apr 17, 2015
Apr 17, 2015 at 9:44 AM UTC
Yesterday, I sat on the shores of Acheron.
It was before christ or maybe British Columbia hard to tell, my lens was clouded
The mushrooms were telling a story.
Do you know what story they told me?
The truth hurts cause the truth comes from the ******** of bovine
And we are all bovine … some sacred … some dinner … some just simply cows
And I wish I had bovine spongiform encephalopathy
At least then I would have an excuse for being a mad cow or raging bull
Either/or, a **** machine is a good thing for this world
Because: mushrooms.
You have to go in through the out door
And Frost told us long ago “The only way out is through”
And Rogan gives this knowledge away in the aether via Amber.
So what does the gateway into the **** have to say to me?
We are the monsters under the bed. The spectre’s lurking in the closets
And Yahk, BC is the place where answers get spewn out in chunks and spurts.
I thought the only way into the underworld was Grecian.
But a warrior poet knows the way,
And Chris would always and in all ways die for Bella.
Cause what is an eternity without your One
It is eternal damnation
So across the river our hero goes.
He slays everything in his path, beast or brethren
Now the illusion is destroyed
The underworld is deceased except for one.
Residing in the mirror lives the final causality
Casualty?
Only if you want out.
And out is through
So you destroy the Self - id, ego, super-ego … you decide
Covenant in disarray.
And what is born out of it?
The river styx no longer
But instead … the river phoenix
Sep 16, 2014
Sep 16, 2014 at 11:59 PM UTC
Traveling backwards through time;
To give Mother a chainsaw abortion.
May 17, 2014
May 17, 2014 at 11:06 AM UTC